


Goodnight

by motherstone



Category: A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket, All the Wrong Questions - Lemony Snicket
Genre: Brotherly Affection, Brotherly Love, Brothers, Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Good news! Nothing bad, Hugs, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, basically baby bro gets comforted, fisturbing implications of what fucked up shit vfd does to thses kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:46:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27684442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/motherstone/pseuds/motherstone
Summary: Earlier events have scarred a young Jacques Snicket, but terrorized his baby brother. Enough that he risked being punished for being outside curfew just to find him in his dorm.VFD may have taken a lot from them, Snickets will always take care of their own.
Relationships: Jacques Snicket & Lemony Snicket
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	Goodnight

The ceiling wasn't of such interest.

But Jacques found himself staring well deep into the night. Sleep was impossible to come anyways — whenever he closes his eyes, earlier events of the day terrorizes his mind and forces them back open. The other boys in his dorm don't seem to fare better alseep either, many were whimpering, and crying in their beds. All he could think of doing was lie still, feeling his heart pound too hard and too fast against his chest, desperately trying to think of his parents, his sister, his brother — anything, but today. 

Or at least yesterday. The clock has chimed its midnight hour.

At the sound, his heart sank. He misses his sister. He wonders how she was doing after all that. If she was crying. Or if she was trying to stay strong. It was viciously tempting to slip out into the hallway and into her dorm, then they'd share the bed like old times for comfort and whisper til sunlight hits, upon then he will take his leave, slipping back.

However, sneaking out has long ceased being an option, not since they've tightened curfew. There's a punishment when you get caught. They even got the teachers patrolling each night, the telltale sign of their existence is heralded by the sliver of yellow light through the slit of the doors. Jacques grimaces, his thoughts drifting towards his brother this time, and his heart clenches instead. He can't imagine him being able to handle any of that well tonight. If a 7 year old like him got shaken this terribly, a 4 year old would be distraught. It's likely he may have been crying for hours, unable to sleep.

Jacques sighs, distressed and worried, then shifts to his side and sees the dim face of his fear-stricken brother.

If you ask him, he'd deny any accounts of a high, strangled shriek, which was thankfully, not loud so it didn't attract any attentiom, not when his training held, but he could definitely feel his heart have lept from his chest and may have skipped a few beats. 

"Lem?" He asks incredulously, putting his feet on the floor, rubbing his eyes once he composed himself. "What are you doing here?" Jacques's gaze shifted multiple times between his brother and the doors, which was closed. His dorm is quite a ways away. "How-How did you even sneak past them?"

His brother didn't answer. He was breathing rather loudly. Now that his eyes adjusted to the dark, Jacques could see his skin was pale as paper, eyes wide as saucers, and his entire being, shook like a leaf in storm, hands gripping his blankets like vice. It was enough to alarm Jacques even further.

"Lem?" he asks, gingerly grasping his shoulders, lowering himself a bit to look at him in the eyes. "What's wrong baby brother?"

Lem's mouth opened, but he does not make a sound. It closed by a fraction, then widened, then closed again, as if he was unsure how to speak. Then his face contorts, and bursts into tears.

"Oh dear," He reached out just as his brother did, just like he used when he was a baby, crying hard, and Jacques lifts him up and into his lap, upon which he then curled up in his arms. Lem buried his face into his chest, and Jacques let him, snot and tears be damned. He just wraps his arms around him, rubbing soothing circles around his back, and he gently whispered comforting nonsense in his ears.

Jacques wishes Kit was here, instead of him. She could handle this far better than he ever could, but she can't. It didn't matter anyway, because right now, his baby brother needs him, and that person he shall be. 

They stayed like that for several minutes, before his brother gradually ceased into hiccups. Jacques stilled for a moment, before breaking the embrace — eliciting a small cry of protest from the bundle on his lap — to reach out for the glass of water on his dresser. He hadn't drank it earlier, far too preoccupied, but it was a small blessing as his brother is no doubt dehydrated after all that. Sure enough, he gulps it all up eagerly, offering back the cup with shaky breaths, and Jacques returns the glass to its former place.

Jacques grimaces, unsure of his questions, but asking anyway. "Lem..." He starts, gingerly. "Do you want to talk about it?"

That quickly got an answer, albeit a nonverbal one, his lips thinning, head shaking jerkily as a "no", and eyes scrunching up as fresh tears spilled. Jacques immediately regretted his action.

"Shh," he rubs circles around his back again, embracing him tight. "Shh, ok, ok. I understand. That can wait til you're ready ok? But you have to sleep now. We still have another day."

His brother looked at him with eyes that consists of distraught, betrayal, and distress, and Jacques quickly had to clear it up. "No, no, you're not going back to your dorm right now. You'll have to before wake up time, but for now—" he shifts, a bit rather difficult with a weight on your lap but he manages anyway, making space on his bed. "— you can sleep with me."

He can feel Lem deflate with relief. He crawls out of his embrace, into a side of the bed, snuggling in. With his smaller size, he barely takes up half of it, and thus was easy for Jacques to settle down on the other side. Taking the edge of the duvet, he smooths it over him and his brother properly, and wriggles into it for warmth.

Sure enough, his baby brother snuggles closer, still upset, and Jacques drapes both of his arms around him. He hopes he's feeling safer now. On the other hand, Jacques is relieved despite all the potential consequences this might bring, should they both be caught. It was one less sibling to worry about, now he can keep an eye on him.

"Goodnight, baby brother," he says gently. He doesn't plan to fall asleep. He doesn't trust himself to, not when he has to escort his brother back sneakily into his own dorm at dawn.

In the dark, with a very quiet voice, he hears it. "Goodnight, Jacques."

**Author's Note:**

> If given the chance, I WILL burn down VFD.
> 
> By God, if no one was gonna make sibling content, I WILL
> 
> Also wow, my first Snicket fanfic!


End file.
